Nobel Laureates Urge Chinese Protesters for Understanding and Dialogue[Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 2:54 p.m.]

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates (L-R) former IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, Mairead Corrigan, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jody Williams of the US, Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi and former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk lay a wreath at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims, during the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima western Japan on 14 November 2010Reuters Photo

Dharamshala:
A group of Chinese protesters on Sunday tried to disrupt His Holiness
the Dalai Lama’s meeting with his fellow Nobel Peace Laureates in
Hiroshima Peace Memorial and ran away in confusion when two of the
Nobel Laureates went to meet them and talk to them.“Why did
they run away the minute we came to talk to them? We did not came here
for confrontation. Shirin Ebadi and we both are peace laureates. This
is the question that we all need to ask why did they leave? There are
no Japanese police here,” Nobel Laureate Jody Williams said as she
tried to approach the protesters.“They left because they don’t want to have a conversation with us,” Williams added.The
protesters seemed to have a tacit backing from the Chinese government,
as the banners they were carrying had oft-repeated government
denunciation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The two Nobel Laureates called on the Chinese people not to be deceived by their government’s  propaganda on Tibet.“Please
do not make the error of believing the propaganda. Please investigate
on your own to find out why there is so much military presence in Tibet
and China,” Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi said through an
interpreter.“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not asking for
independence. He only wants freedom for Chinese and autonomy for
Tibetan people. Long live the people of China,” Ms Ebadi said.Jody
Williams said: “We would love to go to Tibet and see for ourselves the
freedom that China says is available to all in Tibet. We would like to
go and see that Tibetan culture and language is being respected and
promoted.”“We (Nobel Laureates) have gathered in Japan with a
clear objective to support dialogue among all as only way that we can
to save this world,” she said.“The only solution to problems in
today’s world is dialogue. Shirin and I have spoken with His Holiness
the Dalai Lama and we as a Nobel Peace Laureates are willing to go to
China and meet with our Nobel colleague (Liu Xiaobo),” Williams said.“We
are here as two Nobel laureates only to convey our friendship and the
feelings of the Nobel committee and the people of China. We love the
people of China. Our objective is friendship, only friendship,” Shirin
Ebadi said. “We love the people of China, the only problem is
your government,” Ebadi said as one of the Chinese protesters tried to
hit a cameraman.“We believe in the beauty and kindness of the
people of China. So, please we beg and plead with you  ask your
government to free Liu Xiaobo from prison. We Iranians like the Chinese
people like to live in freedom. Don’t allow your government to protect
those who are indefensible abusing human rights in Burma, Iran and
North Korea. Don’t be afraid of the powers of your rulers, your power
is greater than those of your rulers. Long live the union of the people
of China with the rest of the humanity in the world,” she added.